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The holidays are right around the corner, and for many that entails reuniting with family.

It’s the perfect time to connect over delicious home-baked pies, laugh during competitive charades, and simply generally spread good cheer to one another.

Via istock.

However, many older loved ones may not be able to participate in the vacation fun as easily as they once could.

Going up and down stairs may be more difficult now, and they might not be able to remember everyone they want to give gifts to. Or perhaps they can no longer drive, which means getting to a specific destination on their own could be tough. Maybe they avoid going to a family meeting wholly because it simply feels too hard.

And if your loved one hasn’t asked for help directly, it can be tough figuring out how to jump in and offer.

If you’re merely learning that they’re developing limitations, the holidays are perhaps the best time to broach the conversation about their current or future care requires. There’s no better moment to construct those extra efforts for the people you love.

Here are 11 things you can do around the holidays for your loved ones who might not know they need assist.

1. Have a pre-holiday gathering to develop a caregiving plan.

Before your family get-together, touch base with everyone to make a plan about how everyone can best subsistence your older loved one during the holidays; that style you can be sure they aren’t left out of the galas. Who will be picking up mommy to bring her to dinner? Who’s taking her shopping? Is someone shoveling her snowfall? Remember that caregiving doesn’t need to be a solo effort.

2. Offer to take them holiday shopping.

Image via iStock.

If you’ve noticed they’ve had trouble driving lately, you can suggest taking them vacation shopping. After all, you’re already running. Plus, it’s a fun and meaningful way for you two to spend time together.

3. Bring gifts and family to them.

This is especially helpful if your older loved can’t easily leave the house. If that’s the occurrence, why not arrange the vacation gathering plans around them so they can still be a part of the action? They can enjoy gifts, food, and fun all from the convenience of their home.

4. Use after-dinner time to perhaps start a conversation about next steps.

The kids will likely be off playing, so it’s an ideal time to bring up the subject of how you can be helpful to your older loved one. You don’t wishes to ambush them, but the end of the year is a great time to touch base and ask your loved one how they feel the year has gone and what kind of care and support they might need in the new year.

As AARP’s Prepare to Care Guide states, “a plan should never be made without the participation, knowledge, and consent of your loved one.” By taking an opportunity to begin talking about it over dessert by the hearth, it’ll hopefully feel more like an open-ended conversation.

That said, if the timing doesn’t feel right, you shouldn’t force-out the issue. AARP’s family caregiving expert Amy Goyer says you might use the holidays as a kick off point to schedule the conversation for a later date when everyone can feel up to speed and on the same page.

5. Help them feel included in the holiday galas.

via istock.

For older loved ones with Alzheimer’s or other memory loss issues, it’s easy to only fade into the background, especially if they don’t remember past vacation traditions. But the important thing to remember is that holidays are about being together, and no one should be left out. That’s why AARP’s family caregiving expert Amy Goyer stress the importance of encouraging them to get involved in any way they want. From singing carols to decorating the Christmas tree, it’s the interesting thing that may spark some unexpected elation.

“Understand what’s meaningful for them, ” says Goyer. “Think about how you can adapt those things to fit their abilities.”

6. Stimulate them a unique holiday gift that will remind them how much they mean to you.

Maybe it’s a scrapbook filled with photos of your family from past holidays that they can always flip through to recollect wonderful moments. Or, perhaps it’s a watch or necklace “youve had” engraved. Gifts with a real personal touch are a constant reminder that they have household who loves them.

7. Ask them what fun activities they want to do during the holidays.

This is both a route for you to spend more time with your older loved one and make sure they’re going out and doing things. Listing items could include visiting an obscure museum to something as simple as taking the afternoon to learn a cool new game. As loved ones age, they can begin to feel like they’re losing their freedom. Giving them the chance to decide what you’ll do together can be a fun and empowering experience.

“It’s okay to create new traditions, ” emphasizes Goyer.

8. Promote children in the family to interview their elders.

Image via iStock.

Considering everyone has a recording device on their phones these days, this is an easy and fun thing to do before or after a holiday snack. Not merely does it strengthen the bond between the generations, it also builds your older loved ones feel like their stories still matter. And at the end of it, you’ll have their memories captured on tape to cherish for years to come.

9. Take a day or two and merely focus on yourself.

This may sound counterintuitive to the season of dedicating, but if you’ve been dedicating a lot of period and effort to working out a caregiving scheme, you may be burned out. If you don’t take some time to recharge, you won’t be useful to your older loved ones — or anyone for that matter. Find that balance between caring for yourself and others is vital to keeping the care going.

10. Seem at the holidays as a chance to test out new living situations.

Via Jennifer Martin/ AARP.

If it seems like your older loved one can no longer live alone but isn’t eager to change up their lifestyle, why not indicate they stay with you or a fellow family member over the holidays? It’s an easy way to test out the new situation under ideal, aka celebratory, circumstances.

11. If you live far away from your older loved one, figure out how you can help from a distance.

Image via iStock.

You may not be able to be the caregiver on the ground all year long, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do a lot for them. If you’re going to be a point person for care but can’t physically be there, make sure you have a local squad of support lined up. Whether they’re household, friends, or hired help, it’s important to know someone can get to your loved one quickly and easily in an emergency.

The transition into caregiving can be difficult, but getting the ball rolled over the holidays might just make it a little easier.

And no matter what steps you are interested in take, be sure to keep listening to your loved one throughout. They’re a huge part of this new step, and their voice should always matter.

Of course, everyone’s situation will be unique, but if you approach the adjustment thoughtfully and with love, it can make all the difference.

Ginger Zee, chief meteorologist at ABC News, knows most viewers only consider her through her done-up, smiley, scripted appearances on “Good Morning America.” Her new volume aims to change that.

“This is the anti-Instagram book, ” the on-air personality told People publication , noting it won’t present her life story in a polished, picture-perfect route. “I’m so worried, because there’s still a part of me thinking, ‘Oh gosh, this is a lot to tell people.'”

In her volume, “Natural Catastrophe: I Encompass Them. I Am One, ” the 36 -year-old opens up about her battles with mental disease going back several years.

Zee was 21 years old, fresh out of college and living with a former boyfriend, when she attempted suicide.

Fortunately, the amount and combination of drugs she swallowed wasn’t lethal. After being admitted to the hospital, however, she was diagnosed with depression.

In retrospect, Zee attributes her suicide endeavor at the least in part to being newly diagnosed with narcolepsy and ill-prepared to handle a medication’s powerful impacts; her senses had been heightened — emotional highs were very high, and emotional lows were very low.

Regardless, her mental health desperately needed addressing . As depression is one of the more common type of mental illness, Zee understood she wasn’t alone. In 2015, about 16.1 million American adults experienced at the least one major depressive episode in the past year, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.

As the Mayo Clinic pointed out, there are various medical reasons why people experience depression, from a person’s genetic traits, to brain chemistry and hormonal imbalances. External factors — like stress and trauma — can also contribute, research has seen.

“It’s scary, the way your mind can overwhelm what is real and what is right, ” Zee said. “Now as a mom, to think that that could be my child? That is frightening.”

Zee’s life with depression has been an ongoing journey. In 2011, ten days before starting her new, lucrative gig at ABC News, Zee checked herself into a medical facility in New York City, sensing her mental health was spiraling. She didn’t want her career and personal life to suffer.

“I realize, too, that only because I’ve been in a good place for six years and I’ve get myself to a much healthier mental state … I don’t think that I’m cured, ” Zee told People. “I don’t believe anybody’s eternally cured.”

Now, she’s decided to share her narrative so that others know the best thing they can do is express and address what they’re impression internally: “Being well informed[ depression ], sharing it, talking about it, this is where I hope that the healing happens.”

Like this:

Kumail Nanjiani started an important conversation about self-care with a recent tweet. Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/ Getty Images for SXSW.

2017 has been a long, depleting year — which makes a recent tweet from actor Kumail Nanjiani and its responses so, so necessary right now.

The “Silicon Valley” and “The Big Sick” star asked his Twitter followers how they “find the balance between being engaged and mentally healthy, ” which is a major challenge for a lot of us who’ve spent the past year or so being more politically active and shall include participation in the world around us than ever before.

How do you find the balance between being engaged and mentally healthy?@ me.

Burnout can take a major toll on your mental and physical health, and there’s no one right solution that works for everyone. Luckily, hundreds of people responded to Nanjiani’s tweet with what has worked for them.

Here’s 21 of the best solutions people shared for how they balance being engaged with biding mentally healthy.

Author Jonny Sun stressed the need for discovering self-care tools on the platform you use to engage, listing his Tiny Care Bot as an example of how to bring a little bit of a transgres to social media.

if you’re dedicated to staying super engaged, then find ppl/ tools/ resources on the platform you choose to stay engaged on that provide you with consolation/ exhilaration/ a mental health breaking!( ie. i attained @tinycarebot for that very reason, so i could use twitter for ego care while on twitter)

Take infringes. Expending every Sunday avoiding the news usually works for me. I also watch West Wing on Sundays merely to recalibrate with a competent leader. Take twitter off your telephone. Merely utilize on laptop.

I received when is was able to stay off of Twitter and change to podcasts it helped. With podcasts the hosts have time to digest and analyze what is actually going on. On Twitter it’s a constant flame hose of panic.

It’s important to engage in other things sometimes, and when you do: actually engage. Live their own lives. Love. Laugh. Meditation helps. I also try to have long term optimism 🙂 We’re being stress-tested as a country but I believe that good will prevail I hope that helps.

Another tip was to try to engage with content that gives you hope, which are able to motivate action just as well as rage( but without having to feel so rage-y all the time ).

Start with retweeting stuff that arouses/ motivates you rather than stuff that enrages you. It really helps. Set small, achievable goals for participation, and be consistent. If other people motivate you, get some friends to join you.

Artist Rob Sheridan suggested channeling the frustration and exhaustion you might feel from too much engagement into something beautiful and productive.

There’s no good answer. It’s hard to deny the toll this year has taken on our minds, our productivity. Just keep channeling it into art. The Big Sick was a beautiful& heartfelt connective tissue between cultures. Maintain attaining things like that, and maintain tweeting your route through.

If there’s an inspirational quote that helps you keep your head above water, that’s great. You might even deem printing it out or writing it on a Post-It note to keep near your desk as a reminder.

Saved me on election night: “Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s heartache. Do justly , now. Love mercy , now. Walk humbly now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.” — attributed to the Talmud

Possibly the best bits of advice in the bunch came with suggestions to think about loved ones as a style to help keep everything in perspective.

My grand twins have kept me sane. I assure them 2-3 times weekly. No telephone, boys and girls playthings, a dog and them. Two little people who know nothing about evil or anxiety. They are pure joy! Animals and kids are sanity for me.

If none of that helps, both “God” and Seth Rogen seem to suggest smoking pot as a answer — which, if that’s your thing, do what you’ve got to do, but you might maybe want to try some of the other suggestions as well.

Like this:

If you know the Adult Swim reached indicate, “Rick and Morty, ” then you know it’s famous and adored for its bizarre, nearly incomprehensible sense of humor. Its co-creator, Dan Harmon, was also the driving creative force behind the wacky NBC comedy “Community.”

Though Harmon has plenty of devoted fans, based on his run — and his history of occasionally lashing out on social media — you probably wouldn’t peg him as the “role model” type.

But … people tend to turn to their heroes in times of want. For one Twitter user and Harmon fan, that hero delivered. Big time.

Late Monday night, Twitter user @chojuroh posed a simple and somewhat out-of-left-field question to Harmon: “Do you have advice for dealing with depression? “

The question was posed late at night, but within an hour, Harmon had begun unfurling an unbelievably thoughtful and compassionate response.

For One: Acknowledge and accept that it’s occur. Awareness is everything. We set ourselves under so much pressure to feel good. It’s okay to feel bad. It might be something you’re good at! Communicate it. DO NOT KEEP IT SECRET. Own it. Like a hat or coat. Your impressions are real.

“For One: Acknowledge and accept that it’s happen, ” Harmon tweeted, acknowledging the very real stigma that still exists around depression.

“Awareness is everything, ” he continued. “We put ourselves under so much pressure to feel good. It’s okay to feel bad. It might be something you’re good at! Communicate it. DO NOT KEEP IT SECRET. Own it. Like a hat or jacket. Your impressions are real.”

Two: to continue efforts to remind yourself, over and over, that impressions are real but they aren’t reality. Instance: you can feel like life means nothing. True feeling. Important feeling. TRUE that you feel it, BUT…whether life has meaning? Not up to us. Facts and feelings: equal but different

“Two: try to remind yourself, over and over, that impressions are real but they aren’t reality, ” he advised in a second tweet. “Example: you can feel like life means nothing. True impression. Important impression. TRUE that you feel it, BUT…whether life has meaning? Not up to us. Facts and impressions: equal but different.”

He wrapped up with a final plea to anyone dealing with depression: Don’t feel like you have to face it alone, even if your only partner is a journal.

The most important thing I can say to you is please don’t deal with it alone. There is an incredible, miraculous magic to pushing your feelings out. Even writing “I want to die” on a piece of paper and burning it will feel better than thinking about it alone. Output is magical.

“The most important thing I can say to you is please don’t dealing with this problem alone, ” he wrote. “There is an incredible, miraculous sorcery to pushing your impressions out. Even writing ‘I want to die’ on a piece of paper and burning it will feel better than thinking about it alone. Output is magical.”

All in all, it’s an amazingly thoughtful replies from a human who once created a 30 -minute episode about a scientist turning himself into a pickle.

For as much as he’s known as a funny guy, Harmon has been open in the past about his own fights with nervousnes, alcoholism, and being in and out of therapy.

The guy knows his stuff. His spot-on advice for dealing with depression rapidly went viral on Twitter and Reddit, devoting thousands of people a little boost of motive or merely the reassurance that someone out there understands what they’re going through.

Harmon has been building people laugh for years — a gift in and of itself. But it’s awesome to find person with his level of influence speaking openly to help destigmatize a condition that affects hundreds of millions of people around the world.

Like this:

Tony Luciani first fell in love with photography after his mother, Elia, fell and broke her hip.

While she was regaining, it became obvious that her memory was noticeably deteriorating, so her friend indicated moving her into a retirement home. But Tony, a full-time painter who worked from home, wouldn’t hear of it. He knew that he should be the one to care for her.

Coincidentally, it was around that time that Tony bought a camera to take photos of his artwork.

One day, he was trying out the camera, taking photos in a mirror, when his mama came up to use the bathroom. He told her, “Five more minutes, ” but after that turned into an hour, he noticed his mama peeking around the corner to see if he was done yet. He caught it on camera.

“Photo Bombing Momma.” All photos by Tony Luciani, used in conjunction with permission.

“Then she jumped out in front and put her hands up in the air and started running ‘blah blah blah blah! ‘ and then waved, ” says Tony. “And I thought, ‘Oh my god, this is so great.'”

The hilarious encounter was the catalyst for Tony’s first photo series, “Mamma: In the Meantime.”

Elia holding up a mirror with an image of herself as small children in it.

The collaboration between mother and son was a most symbiotic relationship. It reignited Elia’s sense of purpose and Tony had an eager, full-time model at his disposal.

“It got to the point where I’d be painting and she’d come over to me and say, ‘OK, I’m . Let’s do some images, ‘” Tony recalls.

The series was meant to be an homage to her life as well as the struggles of living with dementia. Her memory was leaving her, so he wanted to record as much as she could remember before it was totally lost.

“She’d tell me these narratives, and I would jot the ideas down and come up with visuals in my head, ” Tony says.

When small children has a child. Elia standing with her walker.

“What she remembers most is when she was a little girl, ” he continues. “She doesn’t remember what happened 10 minutes ago, but she does recollect what happened 70, 80 years ago.”

Hearing the histories of her youth was especially rewarding for Tony because when he was a kid, she had worked long hours in a sewing factory, so he didn’t get at expend much day with her . However, her dedication to her chore always impressed him.

Elia was in charge of her entire floor which included 50 sewers who spoke a number of different languages. She actually took it upon herself to learn eight or nine speeches just so she could properly communicate with them.

But despite all her speech prowess, she’d never truly traveled. So Tony took her on a world tour — through photos.

Elia in Egypt.

While they didn’t really travel to far-away places — thanks to image editing software — they may as well have, considering the fun they had get the shootings.

Elia in Paris.

“The process of get the end results is what I recollect the most, ” Tony says. “The laughter and the giggling and the craziness.”

Elia balancing on the Great Wall of China.

And as the photos demonstrate, his mom had a great time too.

“She felt worthy again, ” Tony says. “Like her life wasn’t over. And her life isn’t over — and she’s proved that over and over again.”

While caring for his mother hasn’t always been easy for Tony, what he got in return far outweighed any inconvenience.

Tony and Elia’s hands.

Aside from a number of incredible photo series and his mom’s memories beautifully immortalized, Tony has also connected with many other people who’ve either been caregivers or are about to become caregivers.

It all came out of the simple act of posting his photos in photography forums to get feedback on how he could improve his technique.

“I had photographers saying, ‘Oh my gosh, I wish I had done that with my mother or grandmother, but I will do that with my aunt or the other loved one.’ I think I encouraged people only by posting my photos.”

Sadly, Elia no longer recollects her son’s name, but Tony is so grateful for the three years he got to spend saying goodbye to her.

“She Ain’t Heavy.” Elia in Tony’s arms.

“My dad died, and I wasn’t there, ” Tony says. “My brother passed away 15 years ago, and I wasn’t there. I never had the chance to say goodbye. This is my chance to say goodbye, even though she might outlive us all.”

When children become their parents’ caregivers, there can be many challenges, even if they don’t have a degenerative disease like dementia. It is able to easy to view them as a stressor or an inconvenience.

Tony’s experience with his mother is a testament to what happens when you don’t do that. When you listen to your aging loved one and try to find a way to connect with them again, it can change everything.

Even if you don’t create art, the effort will leave you with unbelievable new memories — the likes of which you may have never imagined.

T.J. Kirk hates the laundromat. What kid doesn’t?

“The laundromat trashes my day, ” he says. He thinks it’s boring. They have TVs, but they’re never playing anything he wants to watch.

T.J. is in the third grade, and when he has homework, the laundromat get in the way. “I can’t bring it because I can’t focus, ” he says.

But although he has dislikes the laundromat, he opts it to the alternative .

All photos via Whirlpool.

“At least we’re get clothes cleaned to wear for school, ” T.J. says.

When his family’s dryer violated, T.J.’s mom tried to use the laundromat whenever they could afford it — but often, T.J. received himself going to school in wet clothes or clothes he’d worn before. And when kids spot stains, they can be cruel.

One of T.J.’s biggest concerns is that other kids get the same access that he has to clean laundry.

After all, get dirty is no fun without friends to do it with. “Something that I like about soccer, ” he says, “is that you have teammates. Because if you don’t have teammates, how can you make a goal? ”

That’s why he wants to see more schools get washers and dryers, like his. “We’re helping people who will come to school with dirty clothes, ” he says. “So they don’t get picked on by their friends.”

And it’s not just kids who benefit from having laundry access in schools — it brings the entire community together too .

“Now that our community knows that we have this, everyone is starting to be involved with our school, ” says T.J.’s mom, Monica. “Seeing that change is just amazing.”

With laundry in schools, children are more confident, communities are closer, and schools are a better place to be. And, perhaps best of all, fewer children like T.J. have to wait around boring laundromats.

Like this:

When my sister used the words “free bleeding, ” I had absolutely no notion what she was talking about.

Rachel had started an organization called Kitty Packs to assistance eradicate free hemorrhaging in the homeless community, and she wanted my support. The only problem? I actually didn’t know what “free bleeding” was .

My name is Joshua Garnett. I’m an offensive guard for the San Francisco 49 ers. I hemorrhaged all the time. And I was a human biology major at Stanford too, so blood and the human body are topics I’m pretty familiar with. But this one had me stumped, so I asked Rachel to sit down and explain to me what it was all about.

Joshua Garnett is an offensive guard for the San Francisco 49 ers. Photo via the San Francisco 49 ers.

Free bleeding, as it turns out, is what happens when a person with their period can’t access pads or tampons. They’re forced to either come up with an unhealthy alternative or bled on themselves.

That’s why Rachel created Kitty Packs: to offer packages of sanitary items to people who can’t afford or can’t access them on their own. And as soon as she explained it to me, I was in.

Photo via iStock.

But why had I never heard of free bleed until my sister generated an organization to combat it?

I’m not a prudish guy. Growing up with a twin sister, I learned early about issues surrounding menstruation, and I’m not uncomfortable talking about it. And yet, it had never passed to me to think of what people who can’t afford sanitary products do when they get their period.

Photo via Joshua Garnett, used in conjunction with permission.

The reason I’d never heard of free bleeding is simple: People don’t would like to speak about it. In fact, people don’t would like to speak about periods at all — especially cisgender humen. But the problem with that is that when people don’t talk about these important issues, they never learn about people who need their help. Problems like free hemorrhaging fly under the radar.

That has to end .

Football players are thought to be about as manly as it gets. So I’m here to tell you: It’s not un-manly to talk about menstruation.

There are a lot of actually inaccurate stereotypes surrounding the idea of what it takes to be a “manly man.” Part of that is avoiding topics that seem too feminine, like menstruation. But the fact is that menstruation affects all genders , not only females — people who are gender nonbinary and transgender are affected by it too.

Photo via iStock.

But regardless of what gender a person who menstruates is, it’s never un-manly to care about someone’s well-being. People on their periods “re going to have to” suffer through a lot — especially if they have to worry about whether they can afford sanitary supplies that month. As a cis man, the least that I can do is to continue efforts to bring attention and support to that struggle.

That’s why I think it’s so important for me to use my platform and my resources as an NFL player to bring support to Kitty Packs and other organizations combatting free bleeding.

People without the resources to get tampons and pads definitely don’t have the resources to make their voices heard on a national level. But I do — and that’s why I’ve decided to raise my voice to get others involved in helping opposed free bleed in low-income and homeless communities.

There are a few ways you can help .

For one, you can go to your local grocery store and pick up a package of sanitary furnishes and drop them off at your local homeless shelter. People often think to donate other things, like food and garment, but forget about sanitary requires. Donating them whenever you can afford to is a huge help.

And yes, they’re expensive( even for a guy on the NFL’s payroll ). That’s half the problem — just imagine trying to budget for a box of these every month while you’re struggling to feed your family.

The other thing you can do is just be more vocal and work to help de-stigmatize periods: Do away with the idea that you can’t pick up a pack of tampons at the store. Don’t make a face when your friend mentions their cycle. The more comfy we get with menstruation, the very best equipped we are to fight free bleeding.

Photo via iStock.

In the end, it’s not about men or women. It’s about helping people who need it.

Menstruation has become a gendered topic, but it shouldn’t be. It’s something that affects everyone, whether directly or not. Even if you don’t have a period, someone you love does — and the greater society that you’re a part of is faced with menstruation issues every day. Step up and do your proportion to help solve those problems.

Joshua Garnett is one of more than 750 NFL players who will lace up for charitable causes as part of the NFL’s My Cause My Cleats initiative. Starting November 28, NFL players will expose their custom cleats, many of which will be auctioned to raise money for the charitable organisations they support. For more information, visit www.nfl.com/ mycausemycleats .

Starting Nov. 26, anti-smoking ads — paid for by Big Tobacco companies — will start appearing in newspapers and on TVs across the U.S.

These companies aren’t running the ads voluntarily, of course.

Back in 2006, U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler found that tobacco giants Altria, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, Lorillard, and Philip Morris USA conspired to hide the health risks associated with smoking from the public, NPR reported. The suit was originally being submitted by a number of medical and advocacy groups in 1999.

In her scathing ruling — in which she called cigarettes “highly addictive” products that lead to “a staggering number of deaths per year[ and] an immeasurable sum of human suffering” — Justice Kessler ordered the companies operate “corrective statements” to counter their harmful and misleading messages from years past. After years( and years and years ) of appeals and disputes over the exact wording of the statements, the companies’ ads are finally being published and aired to an audience of millions.

So you are able start insuring ads like this one — a full page spread in The Wall Street Journal — that spells out the facts about cigarettes and their effects.

Or a TV place like this one, which will air on networks during prime time.

The ads are void of color and flashy imagery; they simply country the facts.

All in all, 50 major American newspapers will carry full-page, weekly anti-smoking ads, and NBC, ABC, and CBS will air five spots like the one above each week for the next year — all paid for by Big Tobacco, NBC News reported.

The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, which has been part of the suit since the beginning, made graphics to be shared on social media to help boost news of the ad launching.

There’s this graphic, in which the group notes why tobacco executives are a bunch of “frauds.”

“It’s both an important victory and a frustrating one, ” Matthew Myers, president of the organization, told The New York Times. These companies, he explained, have spent millions of dollars and over a decade avoiding having to simply is the truth about their products.

Anti-smoking proponents ensure a few drawbacks to the ad launch though . For starters, the 11 years it took for these corrective statements to go public entails the media landscape has evolved in favor of the tobacco companies. Newspaper ads, for instance, are significantly less influential than they were in 2006 since social media and internet advertising has grown. The wording on the ads has also been tampered down throughout the appeals process; the companies’ lawyers argued earlier versions were crafted with the sole intent to “shame and humble them, ” according to The New York Times.

These ads will still make a difference, however, proponents argue.

The public may already know smoking cigarettes is harmful because the health effects are well-documented by now, Myers said. But this is still an opportunity to further inform Americans about just how deadly they can be and just how far their manufacturers are willing to go to get customers to buy them.

“Very few people know that the court found that the tobacco industry intentionally manipulates cigarettes to make them more addictive, ” Myers told NPR.

Robin Koval, CEO and chairman of anti-smoking nonprofit Truth Initiative, concurred: The ads take on important new meanings in 2017.

“People have forgotten over period all of the practices of the tobacco industry, ” Koval told NBC News. “Not merely the fact that they lied about the products but also the fact that the products the latter are selling to the American people were engineered to be addictive as possible.”

Depression is not a option, and anyone who says otherwise is just plain wrong.

After reading a tweet that simply said, “Depression is a choice, ” actor, novelist, and comedian Andy Richter was so angry that he “pulled over after school drop-off” to ventilate on Twitter about what it’s like to live with depression and be constantly bombarded with unhelpful “advice” that so often amounts to little more than blame for those living with it.

Quote-responding to this tweet may seem like shooting fish in a barrel,& yet it is 30 mins later& I have pulled over after school drop-off to react further because I am angry.

“[ Depression] varies in strength from a casual unresolvable suspicion that I will never find the exhilaration that others do in a sunset, to the help feeling that being dead might be a reprieve and a kindness, ” he tweeted, highlighting how difficult the hazy experience of living with depression can be to describe.

He also describes an important distinction between having good things in one’s life — such as a great family and successful career — and being dealt a bad hand when it came to the genetic gamble of depression, a impression he describes as “an ever-present amorphous sadness.”

I have been followed by an ever-present amorphous sadness for virtually my entire life. I am 51 yrs old. It differs in strength from a casual unresolvable suspicion that I will never find the exhilaration that others do in a sundown, to the help feeling that being dead might a respite& a kindness

“My life is full. I am lucky, ” he tweeted. “And I will still reach the end of my life having walked through the majority of members of it with an emotional limp. I do not wallow in self-pity. No one did this to me. It is just how it is. I am just unlucky.”

And I will still reach the end of my life having walked through the majority of members of it with an emotional limp. I do not wallow in self-pity. No one did this to me. It is just how it is. I am simply unlucky.

Saying things like “depression is a choice” is not just wrong, the committee is also maintain people from seeking the help they need.

Depression is really common. In fact, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, an estimated 16.1 million U.S. adults 18 or older experienced at the least one major depressive episode in 2015, accounting for 6.7% of all adults in the country.

“Depression is a choice”= “your pain is your fault”“You can overcome this if you only try hard enough”= “Your pain is inducing me uncomfortable. Please shut up.”

Left untreated, depression can lead to all matters of problems, ranging from an inability to focus on work, all the way up to suicide — building the stigma surrounding therapy that much more frustrating.

Sadly, surveys have shown that there remains significant segments of the population that position depression and mental illness as a sort of weakness. In turn, that attitude reflects on back the person or persons dealing with depression, inducing them feel embarrassed to seek treatment.

Like this:

“I’m good to go” is a phrase that Marines and first responders like Mike Washington are usually all too very well known.

It’s often the knee-jerk response to the call of duty, even if emotionally they’re anything but “good.”

“As firefighters, as law enforcement, as military, we try to play that tough image, ” explains Washington, a firefighter for the Seattle Fire Department. “And we wouldn’t share if we’re having a hard time dealing with something. We internalize it.”

Washington’s been a firefighter for 29 years, and before that, he did four combat tours with the Marine Corps. He always sought a life of action, but what he didn’t consider was how other people’s traumata might affect him .

“Seeing that level of human misfortune, of a car accident or a shooting or a slaying — it takes a toll, ” Washington says.

But it was losing his son in 2008 that was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Washington and his son.

While at work, he learned his son, Marine Sgt. Michael T. Washington, had been killed in action in Afghanistan . Even though he was completely devastated, he didn’t let anyone assure him scream , not even at the funeral.

But this time, the strain of emotional suppression was too much to bear .

He began drinking heavily. He got into bar fights and opposes with his colleagues. He’d even run through red lights on his motorcycle in hopes that someone would hit him and aim his suffering.

Washington at his son’s grave.

After many years of witnessing this distressing behaviour, his veteran friends knew Washington needed help .

They coordinated a post-traumatic stress retreat to a place called Save a Warrior — a weeklong detox program designed to help veterans cope with their trauma.

Through counseling, he began to come to words with the years of trauma he’d experienced and even uncover incidents he’d buried so deeply that he had no memory of them.

“You will see things that you can’t un-see, ” Washington says. ” We ignore it, but they’re ticking time bombs. And if we don’t learn ways to deal with that stress, to work with that stress, eventually it’s all going to catch up to you.”

Slowly but surely, Washington began to recover — and it didn’t take long for him to realize the best route for him to continue mending is to other first responders.

Washington with first responders in Critical Incident Stress Management.

The objective of the program is to demonstrate first responders from day one that they don’t have to keep it all inside. There are much better ways of coping that they are able to keep you healthier and happier on the job.

That’s why Washington is as candid as is practicable when describing his own trauma with those he is trying to help. “I don’t want another firefighter to be in this situation where I was, and the way to do that was to simply lay myself out and just say ‘here it is, ‘” Washington explains.

And so far, Washington’s support has helped several of his colleagues, including firefighter Denny Fenstermaker.

Fenstermaker had been a firefighter for 39 years, but in March 2014, he witnessed demolition and tragedy like he’d never seen before.

First responders on the site of the Oso, Washington, mudslide.

Oso, Washington, a town near where Fenstermaker was fire chief, was devastated by a mudslide, so he led in a crew to rescue survivors. In the process, Fenstermaker wound up uncovering the organizations of many people he knew, and the experience took a toll on him — to the point where he felt like he was losing his ability to lead.

Thankfully, Seattle’s Critical Incident Stress Management Team came on the scene, and Fenstermaker satisfied Washington. They connected right away, and Fenstermaker started opening up to him.

“This is a guy that understands exactly where I’m at because he’s already been there, ” Fenstermaker explains.

Washington talks to a veteran with two other firefighters.

Washington feels like he’s a better person and firefighter because he’s no longer keeping his traumas inside. His all around courage is helping so many others are to be found again.

Trauma can affect anyone , no matter how strong they are. But talking about it is the first and most important step back from the edge .